Monday, April 11, 2011

How does that old bumper sticker about bake sales and missiles go again?

The Unites States, with costly military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, increased spending by 2.8 percent to $698 billion -- about six times as much as China, the second-biggest spender ahead of Britain, France and Russia. In 2009, U.S. spending grew 7.7 percent.

'The United States has increased its military spending by 81 percent since 2001,' SIPRI said. 'At 4.8 percent of gross domestic product, U.S. military spending in 2010 represents the largest economic burden outside the Middle East,' said SIPRI Military Expenditure Project chief Sam Perlo-Freeman.

The U.S. accounts for nearly $700B of $1.6T military spending worldwide.

Meanwhile, earnest pols wring their hands and threaten to shut down the government over stuff like Planned Parenthood and the EPA, tell us we can't afford public broadcasting, and shovel money into Wall St. to socialize their losses and reward the titans of the financial industry for their staggering incompetence and mendacity.

How much do you want to bet that when deficit hawks get "serious" about controlling military spending, the brunt of that pain will be felt by the V.A., veterans, and programs like the Army College Fund?